Is anyone looking for Elders in New York, particularly, Brooklyn and/or Staten Island.

Seems like Elders are spread all over the country, but mine pretty much stayed put in the New York City area.

From reading your McGowan posts,
this 1930 census looks like your ELDER family:

1930 census (Ancestry.com)
Name: Charles ELDER
Home in 1930: Richmond, Richmond, New York
View Map
Age: 43
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1887
Birthplace: New York
Relation to Head of House: Head
Father's Name: Anthony
Mother's Name: Bertha
Spouse's Name: Katherine
Race: White
Household Members:
Name Age
Charles ELDER 43
Katherine ELDER 40
Margaret ELDER 13
Joseph ELDER 12
Harry ELDER 9
Muriel ELDER 6
Robert Lee 30
Harry Thompson 33
Robert Snyder 40
Anthony ELDER 70
Bertha ELDER 64
Source Citation: Year: 1930;
Census Place: Richmond, Richmond, New York;
Roll 1615; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 265; Image: 1008.0.

I'll see if I can find more in my files.
Nancy ELDER Petersen
NancyP@Teleport.com
Host, ELDER DNA project
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Elder

This looks like the parents in 1880 census entry,
with an interesting ELDER origin - from GERMANY

1880
Name: Anthony ELDER
Home in 1880: Kings (Brooklyn), New York City-Greater, New York
Age: 20
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1860
Birthplace: New York
Relation to Head of Household: Son
Father's Name: George
Father's birthplace: Ger
Mother's Name: Caroline
Mother's birthplace: Ger
Occupation: Cigar Maker
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Gender: Male
Household Members:
Name Age
George ELDER 58
Caroline ELDER 50
Anthony ELDER 20
Conrad ELDER 16
Hannah ELDER 14
George ELDER 10
Source Citation: Year: 1880;
Census Place: Kings (Brooklyn), New York City-Greater, New York;
Roll T9_846; Family History Film: 1254846; Page: 524.1000; Enumeration District: 96; Image: 0405.

***
FATHER:
1880 Census (Ancestry.com)
Name: George ELDER
Home in 1880: Kings (Brooklyn), New York City-Greater, New York
Age: 58
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1822
Birthplace: Germany
Relation to Head of Household: Self (Head)
Spouse's Name: Caroline
Father's birthplace: Ger
Mother's birthplace: Ger
Occupation: Fire Brick Maker
Marital Status: Married
Race: White
Gender: Male

I'll keep looking...
---Nancy ELDER petersen
Host, ELDER DNA project
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Elder

Thanks Nancy, I'm pretty sure these are my Elders. Anthony Elder was my great grandfather. The really odd thing is that, in the 1870 census, what looks like the same family has a son, John, not Anthony. I suppose it could be a middle name, since I don't have it, but John and Anthony seem to be the same age, John does not appear anywhere else that I can find.

I can't seem to get any further back than George and Caroline. I don't know when they came her from Germany, whether they were married before coming here or what Caroline's maiden name was. George might have been Jurgen in Germany.

Another mystery is my grandfather's (Charles Anthony Elder) mother. According to my mother (his daughter), Bertha was my grandfather's step-mother. She had a son George, who was my grandfather's half-brother.

Anthony's first wife, again, according to my mother, was Amanda Bergwitz, but I can't find a trace of her anywhere. I don't even know if she and my grandfather were married.

One one census, 1900, has Anthony and Bertha married when my grandfather was born, but I guess they could have lied. I need to get some more specifics about my grandfather's birth.

This looks like Caroline's immigration year of 1857.
Maybe we can find more immigration records.

1900
Name: Caroline Elder
Home in 1900: Brooklyn Ward 12, Kings, New York
Age: 67
Birth Date: Feb 1833
Birthplace: Germany
Race: White
Ethnicity: American
Gender: Female
Immigration Year: 1857
Relationship to Head of House: Head
Father's Birthplace: Germany
Mother's Birthplace: Germany
Mother: number of living children: 4
Mother: How many children: 4
Marital Status: Married
Residence : New York City, Kings, New York
Household Members:
Name Age
Caroline Elder 67
Conrad Elder 37
George Elder 31
Source Citation: Year: 1900;
Census Place: Brooklyn Ward 12, Kings, New York; Roll T623_1050; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 168.

Looks like Caroline has a different Immigration year - 1859
and no naturalization papers listed.

1910
Name: Carolina Elder
Age in 1910: 76
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1834
Birthplace: Germany
Relation to Head of House: Mother-in-law
Father's Birth Place: Germany
Mother's Birth Place: Germany
Home in 1910: Richmond Ward 5, Richmond, New York
Marital Status: Widowed
Race: White
Gender: Female
Year of Immigration: 1859 (no naturalization papers)
Household Members:
Name Age
Joseph Brady 50
Hannah Brady 46
Patrick Brady 25
Joseph Brady Jr. 18
Agins Brady 4
Carolina Elder 76
Source Citation: Year: 1910;
Census Place: Richmond Ward 5, Richmond, New York;
Roll T624_1073; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 1330; Image: 48.

Thanks Nancy, I saw that Brady connection on another tree, but haven't had the chance to explore it. I didn't realize that Caroline had also moved to Staten Island along with some of my other Elders.

My grandfather Charles Anthony and my grandmother Catherine McGowan Elder moved to Staten Island in the 20's - my grandfather having lived there before in 1910.

The thing I found really fascinating is that in the 1910 census record, the people who lived next door to them are my McGowans from my grandmother's family. I'm assuming that the families formed a friendship and that's how my grandparents ended up with each other!

I have to track down and see what happened to George, the younger and Conrad. The family did keep in touch with Johanna/Hannah and Anthony and Bertha lived with my grandparents at 5859 Amboy Rd - I have been in that house - so cool!

SEARCHING Google.com for GERMAN forms of GEORGE ELDER:
These ELTER families could be related, but kept their GERMAN spelling in NY State.
WorldConnect
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&d...
# ID: I2093
# Name: George ELTER
# Sex: M
# Birth: 20 MAY 1865 in Rochester, Monroe County, New York
# Reference Number: 2456

Father: John ELTER b: ABT 1834 in Germany
Mother: Mary FLUCK b: ABT 1840 in New York State

Marriage 1 Jennie MCMAHON b: ABT 1869 in England
* Married: 5 FEB 1894 in Rochester, Monroe County, New York

****
A later Georg ELTER, but the location could be related.
Found: In Ellis Island records:
http://www.ellisislandrecords.org

First Name: Georg
Last Name: Elter
Ethnicity: Hungary, GERMAN
Last Place of Residence: Whiffbeck, Germany
Date of Arrival: Aug 06, 1910
Age at Arrival: 37y Gender: M Marital Status: M
Ship of Travel: Amerika
Port of Departure: Hamburg
Manifest Line Number: 0002

Found WITTENBECK, Pomerania, Germany (no Whiffbeck)

Wittenbeck is a municipality in the district of Bad Doberan, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
- Map shows location in the Northeast part of Germany.
at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wittenbeck

Tourism and Google map
at
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g946082-Wittenbeck_Meckle...

Also found towns of WITTBECK and WITTBEK in Germany.

That's interesting about the possibility of the last name being Elter in Germany. My husband's family name got changed from Heijtink to Heytink when they came through Ellis Island.

But these people are not my Elders - the dates are all wrong. My George and Caroline had to have come here prior to 1860, because my great grandfather, Anthony was born in New York, NY - most likely Brooklyn. Also on more than one census record, they are listed as coming from Bayern, which I understand is Bavaria in southern Germany, bu Munich.

But I will keep Elter in mind, when I'm doing my searches. That is a strong possiblity - thanks!